After nine years away from the varsity hoops scene, Franklin native Walter Crabtree will be back on the bench.

The 44-year-old Crabtree, an alumnus of East Sullivan’s Sumner High who also played basketball for the Tigers, will succeed Dana Smith as boys head coach.

Crabtree, who has served as JV and freshman boys coach the last nine years, hopes his confirmation by the Flanders Bay Community School Board Monday night will mark a smooth transition.

“This was a very difficult decision for me. I’ve known Dana for years and years and we played ball together when we were in school, but the bottom line is the kids were the major influence,” Crabtree said. “They wanted someone they had some kind of a feel for and I’d like to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

The board also confirmed several fall coaching positions as well as approving girls varsity basketball coach Bub Vandergrift for a third season. Fall coaches are John Frye (boys varsity soccer), Becky O’Keefe (cross-country, third year), Matt Umphrey (golf, third year), and Deb Osgood (girls soccer, third year). Frye replaces Jon Renwick, who resigned after his third season for personal reasons.

Smith opted to resign both his varsity baseball and basketball coaching positions following a tumultuous spring sports season in which four Sumner coaches temporarily resigned in support of him after his recommendation to coach an eighth season of baseball was turned down by the school board 6-5 in March. Those coaches were varsity softball coach Debbie Osgood, varsity track and field coach Vern Campbell, JV softball coach Andrea Pelletier, and JV/assistant baseball coach Matt Umphrey.

The board met again two weeks later and reversed its decision, confirming Smith as coach and he coached the Tigers to an 8-9-1 playoff season.

Athletic director Dennis Harmon preferred not to comment on Smith’s resignation and the uproar leading up to it, except to say, “I do feel it was all an unfortunate situation.”

Despite his recent absence, Crabtree has an extensive varsity coaching background. The University of Maine-Machias graduate won an Eastern Maine Class D title with the Machias boys in his second varsity coaching season (1985-86). From there, he coached the Narraguagus boys squad for two seasons.

A teacher in Sumner’s Jobs for Maine Graduates program, Crabtree also coached JV baseball through 2001 and has served as a high school soccer official the last few years.

He and his wife Paula live in Prospect Harbor with daughters Paige (9) and Whytne (6).

School superintendent Harvey Kelley said filling the baseball position would take much longer.

“We won’t even be looking at baseball probably until the first of the year,” Kelley said.

Smith, a NEWS motor route driver, reportedly fell into disfavor with some members of the school board because of his demeanor on the basketball court, although his approach on the baseball field was not mentioned.

Smith compiled a 33-24 record in three playoff seasons with the Tigers. Sumner was 1-3 in playoff games under Smith.

He could not be reached for comment.

Breaking huddle early

The high school football season will start a day earlier this season in order to accommodate Jewish players who would have a conflict between playing on the season’s official opening day – Friday, Sept. 6 – and Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish New Year which is a solemn occasion celebrated and observed by Orthodox and Conservative Jews.

Officials at Deering High School in Portland requested that the Maine Principals’ Association give them permission to move the Rams’ season-opener against Westbrook up a day to Thursday, Sept. 5 so their Jewish players could observe the Holy day.

“We’ve done this in the past at least one other time, so it’s nothing new,” said Larry LaBrie, MPA assistant director. “They [Deering] have a heavy Jewish enrollment and with the season starting later this year because of the way the calendar falls, they requested being allowed to play a day early.”

LaBrie said the MPA’s executive committee approved the request without any trouble.

Deering is the only school to make the request and, as far as LaBrie knows, the only one to be so affected by the season’s start date.

Players catch scholarships from Hall

The Maine Baseball Hall of Fame has awarded scholarships to six recent Maine high school graduates, who will be presented with their awards and recognized at the Hall’s 32nd annual induction banquet at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in downtown Portland Sunday, July 7.

Presque Isle’s Aaron Kierstead, Cole Parlin from Farmington’s Mt. Blue, and Monmouth Academy’s Tip Fairchild have been picked by the Hall’s selection committee to receive the Edward J. “Packy” McFarland Baseball Scholarships, which amount to $500 each.

Softball players Nikki Novak from John Bapst of Bangor, Poland’s Angie Belanger, and Megan Wyman from Bonny Eagle of Buxton will also receive $500 each as recipients of the Marie W. Noel Scholarship.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or ANeff@bangordailynews.net